Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Virus Research 131 (2008) 16–22 Phylogenetic comparison of the carboxy-terminal region of glycoprotein C (gC) of bovine herpesviruses (BoHV) 1.1, 1.2 and 5 from South America (SA) P.A. Esteves a,b,∗ , O.A. Dellagostin c , L.S. Pinto c , A.D. Silva b , F.R. Spilki d , J.R. Ciacci-Zanella a , S.O. H ¨ ubner c , R. Puentes e , J. Maisonnave e , A.C. Franco f , F.A.M. Rijsewijk f , H.B.C.R. Batista b , T.F. Teixeira b , D. Dezen b , A.P. Oliveira f , C. David f , C.W. Arns d , P.M. Roehe b,f a Embrapa Su´ ınos e Aves, BR 153, Km 110, CEP: 89700-000, Conc´ ordia, SC, Brazil b Centro de Pesquisas Veterin´ arias Desid´ erio Finamor (Fepagro-Sa´ ude Animal), Estrada do Conde 6000 CEP: 90001-970, Eldorado do Sul, RS, Brazil c Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Centro de Biotecnologia, CEP: 99010-900, Pelotas, RS, Brazil d Laborat´ orio de Virologia Animal, Departamento de Microbiologia e Imunologia, IB/UNICAMP, P.O. Box 6109, Campinas, CEP: 13083970, SP, Brazil e Universidad de la Republica, Facultad de Veterinaria, Area de Inmunolog´ ıa, Lasplaces 1550, Pocitos, Codigo Postal 11600, Montevideo, Uruguay f Departamento de Microbiologia, Laborat´ orio de Virologia, UFRGS, Porto Alegre 90050-170, RS, Brazil Received 18 June 2007; received in revised form 3 August 2007; accepted 3 August 2007 Available online 24 September 2007 Abstract Different types and subtypes of bovine herpesvirus 1 and 5 (BoHV-1 and BoHV-5) have been associated to different clinical conditions of cattle, in such a way that type/subtype differentiation has become an essential tool for understanding the pathogenesis and epidemiology of BoHV infections. In search for a genomic region that would allow a clear distinction between BoHV-1 and BoHV-5, the carboxy-terminal portion of glycoprotein C (gC), corresponding to residues 321–450 (BoHV-1) and 301–429 (BoHV-5) of 23 South American (SA) isolates (Brazil mostly) was amplified and sequenced. The nucleotide sequence alignments revealed levels of genomic similarity ranging from 98.7 to 99.8% among BoHV-1 isolates, 88.3 to 92% between BoHV-1/BoHV-5 and 96 to 99.7% among BoHV-5 isolates. At the amino acid level, sequence similarity varied ranging from 97.5 to 99.5% among BoHV-1, 77.5 to 84.4% between BoHV-1/BoHV-5 and 92.1 to 99.5% (BoHV-5/BoHV-5). The isolates could be clearly separated into BoHV-1.1, BoHV-1.2 and BoHV-5 after phylogenetic analysis. The results suggest that the phylogenetic analysis performed here can be used as a potential molecular epidemiological tool for herpesviruses. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: BoHV-1; BoHV-5; Glycoprotein C; Phylogenetic analysis 1. Introduction Bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BoHV-1) and 5 (BoHV-5) are members of Herpesviridae family, Alphaherpesvirinae subfam- ∗ Corresponding author at: Embrapa Su´ ınos e Aves, BR 153, Km 110, CEP: 89700-000, Conc´ ordia, SC, Brazil. Tel.: +55 49 34410400. E-mail address: pesteves@cnpsa.embrapa.br (P.A. Esteves). ily, Varicellovirus genus. According to antigenic and genomic characteristics, BoHV-1 was further subdivided in two distinct yet closely related subtypes: 1 (BoHV-1.1) and 2 (BoHV-1.2) (Metzler et al., 1986; Miller et al., 1991; Roizman et al., 1992). It has also been proposed that such subtypes may be associ- ated to distinct manifestations of disease in cattle (Engels et al., 1992). While BoHV-1.1 can cause respiratory tract infections known as infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), BoHV-1.2 has been associated to vesicle or pustule-producing infections 0168-1702/$ – see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.virusres.2007.08.004